Bio Roundup: Alzheimer’s Fail, Drug Price Plan, Gene Therapies & More

Pharmaceutical companies typically raise prescription drug prices at the start of each year and this year was no different. The increases were the latest reminder that, despite President Trump’s fiery campaign rhetoric, the administration had done little to actually lower drug prices. But a new plan aimed at the secretive rebate deals between pharma companies and pharmacy benefit managers could change things.

Insurers, or their intermediaries, negotiate with pharma companies for pricing discounts. But rather than passing the savings on to patients, the companies typically pocket the difference. The Department of Health and Human Services on Thursday unveiled a plan that would allow drug makers to pass discounts on to consumers, but forbid the companies from giving rebates to the middlemen in pricing negotiations. The proposal would apply to beneficiaries of Medicare and Medicaid, but HHS officials told The Washington Post that they expect these changes would also be adopted by employer health plans.

Indicative of the ongoing spat between biopharma and PBMs over blame for high drug prices, their respective lobbying groups had disparate views of the plan. The Pharmaceutical Care Management Association, which represents PBMs, warned it would raise costs for Medicare beneficiaries. Pharma’s lobbying group, the Pharmaceutical Researach and Manufacturers of America, said it would lower patients’ out-of-pocket costs, according to the Wall Street Journal. Time will tell, but the plan could take effect next year.

In other news this week, yet another Alzheimer’s disease drug failed its final test, a major pharmaceutical company dove deeper into gene therapy, and a new biotech emerged in a new area of cell biology. Let’s get to those stories and more in this week’s news roundup.

MORE DRUG PRICE NEWS

—The U.S. House of Representatives, now controlled by Democrats who have pledged to investigate the drug industry, and the Senate held simultaneous hearings Tuesday on drug prices. Members of both parties took the pharma industry to task; Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) said he would investigate the high prices of insulin, in particular.

—J&J’s apalutamide (Erleada) succeeded in a Phase 3 study in men with a form of metastatic prostate cancer. The drug is part of J&J’s plan bid to build on the success of its other prostate cancer treatment abiraterone (Zytiga). Here’s more from Vantage.

—Alexion also nabbed an option to license CAEL-101, a drug for immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis, from privately held Caelum Biosciences and acquired a minority stake in the company.

—Trevena (NASDAQ: TRVN) said it reached an agreement with the FDA on a path forward for its pain drug oliceridine. The FDA rejected the treatment last year.

—TAK-003, a vaccine from Takeda Pharmaceutical (NYSE: TAK) for Dengue fever, hit its main goal in the first part of a Phase 3 trial. The vaccine needs to succeed in a longer-term part 2 of the study before Takeda files for approval, however.

—Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) reported that their antibody pain drug, tanezumab, beat a placebo in two of the three main goals of a second Phase 3 study in osteoarthritis. The drug succeeded in an earlier Phase 3 test.

—Shares of Oncocyte (NYSE: OCX) rose more than 260 percent to $6.84 apiece after it published positive results for its liquid biopsy test. Shares have since retreated to $4.81 apiece as of late Thursday.

DOLLARS & DEALS

—Neurocrine Biosciences (NASDAQ: NBIX) paid Voyager Therapeutics (NASDAQ: VYGR) and made a $50 million equity investment in the Cambridge, MA, company to get rights to a group of experimental gene therapies for neurological diseases—among them a Parkinson’s disease treatment beginning late-stage testing.

—Aldeyra Therapeutics (NASDAQ: ALDX) paid $10 million in stock to buy Healio Vision, a privately held biotech with a drug for the eye disease proliferative vitreoretinopathy on the verge of Phase 3 testing.

—Cancer drug developer Agenus (NASDAQ: AGEN) revealed plans to offer digital securities that provide investors the opportunity to put their money behind a single biopharmaceutical product. Agenus says it aims to raise up to $100 million in mid-February and it will provide additional details at that time.